“I didn’t know I was going to meet him - so I was wearing a raggedy-assed tee. There was just one, very embarrassing problem. “And he has kept his voice as an activist without losing his voice as an artist.” That was why Swizz had secretly invited Belafonte to join them. Belafonte - as he insists on calling him, with full respect accorded - that he had long been an idol above all others. “I felt like I was meeting a pharaoh or a king,” says Smollett, who told Mr. But Harry Belafonte was in another league, and Smollett was unprepared. And every day at work he was going head-to-head with formidable, far more experienced actors. Belafonte.”Īnd that was when Smollett lost his chill. On Empire, he’d recorded with everyone from Rita Ora and Patti LaBelle to Alicia Keys, an embarrassment of musical riches so great that it almost became easier to make a short list of R&B and rap artists who hadn’t been on the show - yet.īut on this day in Swizz Beatz’s New York studio, they were working on something a little different: a Pepsi commercial jingle for his character, Jamal Lyon. is coming,” the producer said, but Jussie Smollett had no idea what that meant.